Aug. 1, 1943. Staging from Benghazi, 177 Ninth Air Force B-24s
drop 311 tons of bombs from low level on the ail refineries at Ploesti,
Romania, during Operation Tidal Wave. Forty-nine aircraft are lost, and
seven others land in Turkey.

This is the first large-scale, minimum altitude
attack by AAF heavy bombers on a strongly defended target. It is also the
longest major bombing mission to date in terms of distance from base to
target.